The heat sets in with higher temps and riper pods,
unless you have a F1 cross with some milder pods.

Tiger

also, tasting the bottom of the pepper doesn't count, they're almost never hot.

did you try scraping the placental wall and licking your finger?

Even if crossed I think heat is a dominant trait. Let them get more ripe and as sndk says be sure and include the placenta.

Some people say that stress causes the pods to be hotter. I'm not one of those people. Another theory is that ambient heat during time of pollination might have effect.

"Tiger" has been known to grow some hellishly hot pods. I would listen to him.

jt

Don,

The only chile I have had that was hotter green that ripe was country Girls

Another ? how much of what did you use for fertilizer?

Thanks for the comments. I forgot to mention that I munched down a whole 3/4" one as an experiment...still nada.

Plants were started in December next to the furnace under shoplites...and I was using occasional Shultz 10-15-10, maybe once/twice a week. About 10-14" tall now. Cayennes planted at the same time have been producing peppers with the right heat.

They're out in the garden now...we'll see how they do. I bought 4 hab plants for comparison...but at 2-3" they have a way to go to catch up!

--Don

this is really strange. I want to follow this story. please keep us updated

Donandsara, here is a copy and paste of a post I just made on another thread regarding stress and heat levels, etc. It's from the thread about caribbean reds and congo black habs. I hope this helps.

"Here's my take on it (I grew both the caribbean reds and the chocolate habs the last two years in a row.) The caribbean red hab produces very hot fruit, and the fruit are not very variable in heat, it doesn't matter if they are early season, late season, etc, they are all consistently pretty darn hot. The congo black (chocolate hab), however, can be more variable.
This is true of most chinenses. Last year after hearing all the rave about how hot fatalii were, I tried one and found it to be pretty mild compared to other extremely hot chinenses like devil's tongues and chocolate habs. I adopted the notion that the fatalii weren't so hot. Imagine my surprise when I made a batch of pickled fatalii and draped them over a slice of pizza and they were hotter than almost anything that I had tried!

The variability comes from the plant (and fruit) being exposed to stress. The fruit tend to be hottest when the plant gets stressed by a) high temps, b) lack of water and c) lack of nutrients. They also tend to taste best when they are stressed. Some people even purposely slice the roots when the last harvest of fruit is maturing. They believe that cutting the roots when the fruit begin to mature will make the best tasting and hottest fruit by cutting off the supply of water and nutrients to the plant.

Annuums are the most susceptible to stress I believe, moreso than chinenses. I've experienced it with both. I had puriras (annuums) last year that gave me pretty mild peppers early in the season. We had a very hot and dry spell in august and I hadn't fertilized. When I came back from my honeymoon I took a bite of a ripe one and saw every star in the universe and then some. I can't speak for how susceptible baccatums, pubescens and frutescens are, though I remember my tabasco peppers being hotter later in the season and me thinking it was my imagination!

I also noticed something else. Last year I fertilized with seaweed extract, which is higher in potassium. I have read that potassium helps plants deal with stress (don't ask me how). I did notice that the container plants that I gave the seaweed extract to became less variable, but remained pretty hot and good tasting.

So in short, the chocolate habs will most likely be hotter than the caribbean reds. Don't underestimate either of them though, they are both brutally hot. You can't go wrong with the flavor of either of them too. They are both winners."

last year i grew habs and they were super hot.
one day i saw them in a grocery store for a buck a pound so i bought a big bag .
that night i made some soup and added one and NOTHING no heat at all!!!
mine looked the same and would bring me to tears with a small slice but the store bought ones i could eat like popcorn and had no heat or taste.
so of to the bar i went and bet many people that i could out eat them .
bet a guy 50 bucks i could eat 2 and he said no way .
I ate 2 and he said he could do it and i gave hime 1 of mine and well you guessed it it was easy cash.

shayne

I was thinking along the lines of wayassfasterthanyou said except I did not think of making it a $50 bet which is much better. I was just thinking of a joke.

getting some mild ones for me and hot ones for by buddies and seeing who could eat the most. I would probably win even in an honest race. but it would be so much more fun to be able to really down them because they were mild.

watch out for the guy in the bar if he reads this posting.

one of my friends did down a really hot hab straight. he simply took the entire hab into his mouth in one bite and he chewed it up and really got the taste of it before swallowing it. almost killed him for a second. but he came back to life in the next second. haha.

I have about 100 habs out there and some Red Savina and Jalapeno. my daughter is a big hot Jalapeno fan. she is a little nervous on the Habs so far. one of her favorites is Japanese Wasabe sauce. from the hottest horse radish.

If practical jokes are your speed, the Aji Dulce #2 looks just like a Caribbean Red Hab and the Numex Suave Red looks just like a Red Hab. The Numex Suave Orange looks like a Yellow Hab (don't ask). Anyway, you can 'catch' some people with those, if you have a little imagination you see the potential!

Groovy,

Putting out a $50 bet on that Trinidad Scorpion? :) Now that may be a worthy challenge, providing you don't have to pay the unlucky recipient's hospital bill after!

Chris

well now we know how to set up for the "Sting."

the next question is how to find the "Mark."

that was a good movie. haha.

We can do a movie with this hot pepper trick. the movie fans will love it.

Chris,

I'd put that Trinidad Scorpion against just about anything, although the buzz about the Naga Morrich has me wondering. Also, the 7-pod is supposed to be a beast.

The one thing about the Trinidad Scorpions is that they are a little bit variable though (they vary between unbearable and unbelievable).

A good fallback is Chocolate Scotch Bonnet. Good ol' napalm!

Organic nut, yes 'The Sting' was a great movie!

Sounds like the scenario - - - would you rather walk barefoot over 450 degree or 850 degree coals? Fun decision.

Chris